Career Doctor: Picking A College Major

Dr. Jacqueline Hornor Plumez, posted on May 20, 2010

Hi Career Doctor!

I’m currently finishing up my junior year and I keep second-thinking my major. I know for certain that I plan to major in Spanish, but I can’t make up my mind on what else. I originally came to school for Pre-Pharmacy, but decided to change it after not doing so well in Chemistry. I then decided to change it to Physician Assistant (because I wanted to stay in the health area), but that focused on Chemistry as well. I decided to go into Radiation Therapy to work with cancer patients, but job shadowed this past summer, and I can’t picture myself doing it forever. So I decided that I should probably look into Business since I enjoyed Accounting and Economics in high school. So that is my current major: Marketing/Accounting AND Spanish. I feel that I enjoy the science courses more though and would like to switch back to it and perhaps pursue Pre-Optometry, but then again, I could see myself in Business as well. I do a lot better in Arts and Liberal classes, but–as you can see, I’m quite confused! I’ve been to some academic and career advisors, but they don’t seem to help me much! And my mom pressuring me certainly doesn’t help the situation!

Please, please let me know of what you think!

Confused

Dear Confused:

I feel confused just reading your letter! But I’ll try to sort it out for you.

It seems that you would like to be in the health field, in an area where you don’t do the same thing all the time, but chemistry is a real block. You mention optometry, which has many repetitive functions, but the interesting thing about optometry, is that many optometrists combine business with medicine by having their own eye glass shops.

Admission to optometry school is competitive; only about 1 in 3 applicants are accepted. All applicants must take the Optometry Admissions Test (OAT), a standardized exam which measures academic ability and scientific comprehension. The OAT consists of four tests: natural science (biology, general chemistry, and organic chemistry); reading comprehension; physics; and quantitative reasoning. Note how prominently chemistry features in the OAT. So if you can not afford chemistry tutors, I would think of a new possibility.

How to find new possibilities? Go to your college counseling center and ask them to give you a Strong Interest Inventory. I think this is the best vocational test to help people who are as confused as you are find the best career path.

1 comment to Career Doctor: Picking A College Major

The confusion and dilemmas facing this student in determining a major are VERY NORMAL. Most of the time, we don’t hear or read about it, but if you were to talk to many college students (if they let you inside their heads) these feelings are commonplace. Most students who are at a point where they feel they need to determine a career path in life are frightened because they believe they are in a do or die situation – that they have to stick with this decision for a major, which will determine their career path for the rest of their lives – and it’s not helpful for a “Career” Doctor to respond as she did in the first sentence – with the fact that she now feels “confused” from the honest questions put forth by the student seeking advice. I don’t find that to be a helpful or constructive way to kick start a dialog when you are supposed to be helping not making the person feel worse.

Here is my advice: choose any major that you enjoy the most, and that you believe helps you to think about who you are and what you find the most fulfilling – today. If it’s a general studies/liberal arts/philosophy etc than that’s great – anything you choose that helps you become a more analytical thinker where you can make better decisions for yourself down the road is well worth the tuition you are paying. At the end of the day we are judged not only on our “accomplishments” but in the process of getting there…